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| National |
| Chancellor College closed, students arrested |
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by
Pilirani Semu-Banda, 18 April 2004
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15:15:01
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Forty seven students from Chancellor College (Chanco) were last Friday arrested after staging a demonstration in Zomba while President Bakili Muluzi was around the area visiting the Malawi Army Air Wing.
Reports from the college indicate that the fracas started with students in the Faculty of Education protesting against a decision that they will graduate next year instead of this year.
A student who did not want to be named said the rest of the students joined in the protests after learning that Muluzi was around the Zomba area.
“They erected road blocks and got hold of some UDF supporters who were travelling in a lorry. They beat up these supporters and that’s when all hell broke loose with the police coming in large numbers to beat up the students and arrest them,” said the student.
He said glasses were broken around the college.
Publicity Director of the Chanco students union Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda confirmed the fracas in an interview, saying principal Francis Moto told the students that the college was being closed indefinitely following the demonstrations.
Nyirenda said Moto told the students that the closure was effective Saturday because of “violence and general disorder”.
Moto could not be reached for comment yesterday but the union spokesman said the arrested students were taken to Zomba Maximum Prison, Thondwe and Domasi Prisons.
He said lawyer Charles Mhango on Saturday obtained a court order to have the students released from jail but that the police refused to obey it.
“The police indicated that they had orders that the students shouldn’t be released until Muluzi is out of Zomba,” said Nyirenda.
Mhango said Sunday he obtained another order from High Court judge Anaclet Chipeta who “stressed the importance of complying with court orders, especially by the police”.
He said it was therefore proper that when he took the order to police they had already started releasing the students.
“The police said the Inspector General had already given them the order to release the students,” said Mhango. |
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